New Zealand redeployed gunships and helicopters to deliver essential supplies to marooned cities on Thursday.
Overwhelmed rescue teams have eagerly embraced overseas offers of help in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Five people have died and more than 10,500 have been displaced, according to authorities, in a disaster that has crippled the country’s populous North Island.
Four days of violent winds and lashing rains caused landslides and widespread flooding that lacerated the island’s road network, caused rolling power cuts and knocked out hundreds of mobile phone towers.
Earthquakes on Wednesday added to the weather chaos felt by the country this week, as 70,000 people across both islands felt the ‘massive’ 6.3 magnitude tremor.
